Active clinical trials for "Alzheimer Disease"

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by significant memory loss and toxic protein deposits (amyloid and tau) in the brain. The investigators' lab found a non-invasive way to remove these toxic proteins from the brain in AD mouse models. Remarkably, treated mice also have improved memory on behavioral testing. The investigators aim to translate this non-invasive method, which uses light and sound to stimulate the brain, to be used in mild Alzheimer's patients. 40 participants with mild Alzheimer's disease will be recruited, and the investigators will assess their brain waves with electroencephalogram (EEG) before, during, and after light and sound stimulation for safety, feasibility, and to optimize the stimulation device for use in the mild AD population.

The objective of this project is to conduct research and a pilot study to demonstrate the potential clinical impact and technical feasibility of a socially-assistive robot, called Ryan Companionbot (hereafter Ryan), for life improvement and intervention of persons with early stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD related dementia (ADRD). Earlier phases of this project demonstrated the feasibility and scalability of using emotion recognition technology based on cutting-edge natural language processing and artificial intelligence technologies to improve mood and lessen depression symptoms of persons with early stage AD/ADRD. In this phase, the investigators will utilize an aesthetically pleasing updated Ryan (V2.0) with emotion recognition and natural language processing for enhanced conversations to address the needs of the individuals with AD/ADRD and their healthcare providers as well as to test the effectiveness of Ryan by comparing participants pre- and post-treatment by analyzing several blood biomarkers related to AD/ADRD and depression. The investigators will recruit thirty participants from local senior living facilities based on their cognitive performance as assessed by the Saint Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS) score. SLUMS is commonly used as a simple screening/assessment test in senior living facilities. As part of the recruitment, the investigators will show prospective participants a video recording of a previous senior volunteer interacting with Ryan to give new recruits an idea of the socially assistive robot technology.

This is a pilot study that aims to create a dementia-specific intervention of advance care planning (ACP) and test its feasibility and acceptance with min 20 max 30 patient-relative dyads. The intervention is adapted from the Multiprofessional advance care planning and shared decision-making for end of life care (MAPS) Trials 1 and 2 made at the Zurich University Hospital. The study design is longitudinal (historic): all the dyads will be asked to go through the process (4 visits, see 9.3 Procedures at each visit).

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the major brain diseases which received more attention in recent years. The disconnection syndrome is the main pathophysiological mechanism leading to cognitive decline in AD patients. Both animal experiment and clinical observation have demonstrated that acupuncture can generate treatment effect on AD patients by moderating the neural pathway directly. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. By using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) method, as well as acupuncture and neurology sciences, investigators will explore the multi-modality data analysis; compare brain connectivity and network parameters changes between pre- and post- acupuncture treatment; analyze the correlation between fMRI changes and neuropsychology test. The present study aims to elucidate the neural mechanism of acupuncture therapy on early AD, provide theoretical evidence from the perspective of functional connectivity.

Caring for patients with Alzheimer Disease or Related Disorders (ADRD) is accompanied with a caregiver burden that increases with the progression of the disease. This burden can have physical, psychological, emotional, social and financial issue on the informal caregivers who are often represented as hidden secondary patients. They frequently have a higher risk of developing mood disorders as depression, anxiety, stress, sleep disorders and a lower quality of life associated with a greater use of psychotropic drugs. They also incur higher risk of heart disease and mortality. The embrittlement of the caregiver is a major factor of early institutionalization of patient. In the PIXEL study, the mean age of the men caregivers was 73.9 years and 64.8 for the women caregivers. Elderly themselves, especially spouses, the informal caregivers are also exposed to common chronic diseases and associated polypharmacy with a higher risk of developing drug-related problems due to aging and negligence of their own health care. These risks are increased mainly in the elderly because of changes in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters related to aging, acute or chronic diseases and the potentially inappropriate prescription (PIP). Previous studies have shown the effectiveness and positive impact of optimization of the therapeutics by a clinical pharmacist on the reduction of drug-related problems, length of hospital stay, readmission rates, quality of life and mortality. The patient's medication management is usually delegated to the informal caregiver, who must also manage his own treatment. The caregiver may face difficulties with therapeutics (e.g., inappropriate dosage form, adverse effects and patient refusal) that could impact on its compliance with treatment or that of his relative. No previous study has evaluated the impact of pharmaceutical collaborative care including personalized interview with a clinical pharmacist and optimization of drug prescribing among patients with ADRD and their caregivers. However, many studies have assessed the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions on caregiver burden, mood disorders and the patient institutionalization. Meta-analysis showed a moderate improvement of the caregiver burden. The main objective of the PHARMAID study is to measure the impact of personalized pharmaceutical collaborative care integrated to a multidisciplinary psychosocial program on the burden of ADRD caregivers and assessed at 18-month follow-up.

Hippocampal Sclerosis (HS) leads to anterograde amnesia mimicking early Alzheimer's disease (AD) (so called HSA-nonAD). Recent studies showed that (a) the deficit of episodic memory as well as the level of hippocampal atrophy in bvFTD may be of similar severity to that observed in AD, even at initial presentation, leading to misdiagnosis in 22% of cases with post mortem diagnosis; (b) amnesia with HS due to microvascular lesion and microinfarcts can also cause impairment of episodic memory mimicking AD, without subcortical cognitive profile. Because these diseases involve distinct pathophysiological processes, they require different specific care and treatment. In consequence, it is very important to improve our knowledge about HS in order to identify its mechanism and improve the diagnosis.

In the perspective to better evaluate the efficacy of new treatment strategies for Alzheimer disease (AD), it appears important to develop experimental paradigms to precisely measure cognitive endpoints/biomarkers that may be used in healthy volunteers as tools to validate drug efficacy profile. The use of Electroencephalography (EEG) may be, therefore, a good candidate. The purpose of the present study is to use EEG to more precisely explore cognitive processes in healthy subjects, with a particular interest in episodic and working memory functions that are usually altered in both AD and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) as well as to better understand underlying neural mechanisms involved in these processes.

The prevalence of dementia is rapidly growing worldwide, affecting 46.8 million people in 2015. The 2014 Alzheimer's Society report estimated that 311,730 people with dementia were living in care homes in the United Kingdom (UK). In care homes, people are more likely to be socially isolated and experience a lack of stimulation. It has been argued that access to meaningful activities is of high importance. One strategy that may engage older people in enjoyable leisure activities is the use of touchscreen technology. Previous research has indicated that people with dementia and care staff reported positive experiences when using touchscreen technology, showing improvements in quality of life, relationships and interpersonal interaction. A possible way to engage people with dementia with touchscreen technology could be through the use of the visual arts. Preliminary evidence shows the use of arts with this population to be beneficial in reducing behavioural symptoms, depression and isolation and make people with dementia more able to express feelings. The use of visual art activities in touchscreen technology is a promising idea, as positive results from interventions using these activities independently can be found in scientific literature. This intervention will consist of the use of two different visual art apps on touchscreen tablets with people with dementia living in care homes. Study data collection will take 8 weeks; four weeks will involve the execution of the intervention and four weeks for measurements. Participants will be supported to use the app twice-weekly, with a maximum of 8 individual sessions. So far, very little research on the benefits of visual art interventions on touchscreen devices has been made. Thus, there is a need to have more research on this topic. This study will add to research on this field, and its results could be valuable to care staff and people with dementia.

A 6-month randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled, followed by a 6-month open label extension study.

A program that combines high intensity aerobic exercise (<85% of Heart Rate Reserve) with resistance, progressive and moderate intensity intervals, carried out in primary care, is effective in terms of a smaller increase in respect to the baseline measurement in the total score of the ADAS cognitive section (Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive section),in the control group that receives an intervention similar to low intensity (30-40% of Heart rate reserve). We Expect a difference of at least 3 points between the means of the increments between the intervention and control group.